On the eve of the upcoming Third Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party, the authorities continue to clean up various departments. Recently, four former senior executives of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the power base of the second figure of the Jiang faction and former Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of China, Zeng Qinghong, were all taken down on the same day.
The Chinese Communist Party’s Disciplinary Inspection Commission website released four notifications on July 9 regarding investigations into these officials who all came from CNOOC. They are: Zi Shilong, former Deputy General Manager of the Legal and External Affairs Department of CNOOC, Cao Shujie, former Director of the Office of CNOOC and full-time external director, and Director of China United Coalbed Methane Co., Ltd., Yu Guimin, former Party Committee member and Vice General Manager of CNOOC’s Tianjin Branch (Drilling and Completion), and Deng Jianming, former Deputy General Manager of the Engineering Technology Department of CNOOC.
Just the day before, on the 8th, CNOOC had just reported on the progress of the first round of inspections and reforms carried out by the 20th Central Committee, and the next day,
they officially announced that these four individuals were under investigation. Chinese state media reported that out of the four individuals, Zi Shilong, Cao Shujie, and Yu Guimin all worked at China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL).
Zi Shilong, born in 1971, had been working at CNOOC Technology Service Company since 1994. He entered COSL in January 2002, where he held positions such as Manager of the Cementing Division, Deputy General Manager of the Oilfield Production Division, General Manager of COSL Indonesia, and General Manager of the Human Resources Department of COSL. He was promoted to Vice President of COSL in August 2013 and resigned in December 2015 due to a job transfer.
Cao Shujie, born in 1964, had served as a Drilling Team Leader, Deputy Supervisor, Platform Manager, and General Manager of the Drilling Division at Bohai Drilling Company and Northern Drilling Company of CNOOC. In 2010, he became Vice President of COSL; in 2017, he was promoted to Executive Vice President of COSL; and as of March 2018, he assumed the position of CEO and President of COSL and Executive Director. He resigned in June 2020.
Yu Guimin, born in 1969, had worked at COSL for many years, holding positions including Deputy General Manager of the Well Intervention Division, Chief Engineer of the Drilling Division, Deputy General Manager and General Manager of the Oilfield Production Division, and General Manager of the Procurement and Management Department. He became Vice President of COSL in January 2017 and resigned in May 2020.
It is noteworthy that Zi Shilong, Cao Shujie, and Yu Guimin all worked with Qi Meisheng, the former Deputy Chief Economist of CNOOC and former Party Secretary and Chairman of China Oil & Gas Group. Qi Meisheng had been with COSL for almost 20 years.
In 2013, Qi Meisheng and Zi Shilong both served as Vice Presidents of COSL until Zi Shilong resigned due to a job transfer in December 2015. In June 2016, Qi Meisheng was promoted to CEO and President of COSL. In March 2018, Qi Meisheng was appointed Chairman of COSL, with Cao Shujie, then Executive Vice President of the company, taking over as CEO and President. Less than a year before these leadership changes, Yu Guimin had just been appointed Vice President of COSL, working under Qi Meisheng and Cao Shujie. Coincidentally, in May and June 2020, Yu Guimin and Cao Shujie resigned due to “job transfers,” and in April of the following year, Qi Meisheng resigned as the Chairman of COSL.
In May of this year, Qi Meisheng was under review and investigation by the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Team of CNOOC and the Hubei Provincial Supervision Commission.
Since the beginning of this year, several senior executives within the CNOOC system have been investigated.
On April 2, Fang Zhi, former Executive Vice President of CNOOC, was investigated, and Chen Ming, former Deputy Team Leader of the Bohai Region Coordination Work Team of the Tianjin Branch of CNOOC, was also under investigation. On March 15, Li Yong, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of CNOOC, was investigated.
Zeng Qinghong, a key figure of the Jiang faction, was the first “boss” of the “Oil Gang.” In 1983, he served as the Deputy Manager of the Liaison Department of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Petroleum Department, and Party Secretary of the Nanhai Petroleum Company. In 1984, he was transferred to the Shanghai Municipal Committee, where he held various positions such as Deputy Minister, Minister of the Organization Department, member of the Municipal Committee, and Secretary of the Municipal Committee. He became the Deputy Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee in 1986.
Former Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin was transferred to the Shanghai Municipal Committee from Beijing in the mid-1980s and became Zeng Qinghong’s superior. Jiang Zemin was promoted to the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party for his role in suppressing the student movement of June 4th. Zeng Qinghong was appointed Deputy Director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in July 1989 and became Jiang Zemin’s “chief in-house manager.” He entered the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China in 1997, becoming one of the country’s top leaders.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation, established on February 15, 1982, by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, is a large state-owned enterprise and the largest offshore oil and gas production operator in China. The company has a registered capital of 113.8 billion yuan and controls five listed companies both domestically and overseas. Its main business segments include oil and gas exploration and development, professional technical services, refining and sales, natural gas and power generation, financial services, as well as new energy businesses such as offshore wind power. CNOOC has four upstream subsidiaries in Tianjin, Zhanjiang, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.